Rainbow Single quilt, finished

I have been having a very busy and productive time sewing and have managed to finish several projects in the last few days.

My latest finish is a large quilt based on Emily Cier's  pattern in her Scrap Republic book.

The quilt design is called Beeline and the pattern is for a baby quilt.  I made a baby sized one last year but decided I had more than enough fabrics to enlarge it to a generous single bed size. 
The finished quilt measures 88" x 54".

I started the quilt back in February when we were in New Zealand and I managed to complete the top by the time we came home at the end of March.  I used lots of rainbow coloured scraps from my NZ stash but took out a few more and many of the neutral fabric scraps I needed for the borders.
Whilst I was there I managed to find a suitable fabric for the backing and, even better, it was on sale at a good price.

So, on and off over the past months I have hand quilted it with Perle cottons. I used cream for the borders and coloured Perles to match the colour of the rainbow stripe.

I love rainbows and this year we have seen lots, both here and in NZ so I have decided to call the quilt Remembering Rainbows.

Showing the backing:

 

I am giving it to a friend's 5 year old daughter, just in time for the winter.  It is a surprise and I shall be handing it over on Monday. Hope she likes it!

All rolled up, ready to gift.

 

 

14th Quilt finished this year

I sewed the binding on to my I Spy Blue Freckles quilt yesterday which makes it the 14th Quilt I have completed so far this year. I am so pleased at this total, especially as 4 of them were UFOs.

Here's my finished quilt:

 

My New Year Resolution was to use up some of my stash and scraps and that really happened with this quilt.

 

• All the 'Freckles" were cut from fabrics in my stash, some have been there for a long time, many of them used in other Freckles Quilts or other child/baby quilts.
• The backing is from a piece I bought several years ago from Spotlight in New Zealand.  It was a bargain and I bought 3 yards to use as backing.  Up until this quilt I have always felt it wasn't quite the "right" fabric for the backing.  However, with this quilt I decided not to be so fussy:  it is a typical baby fabric and although it is a contrast to the front which has such bold colours I think it works.  Being paler shades it shows up the bright turquoise Perle cotton hand quilting very well.
• Again, using my principle of using up I looked in my bag of spare bits of binding, all left overs from various quilts I have made over the years.

This is quite an old photo of my bag of scrap bindings and several of these have already been used.
However, I found two lengths of spotted bindings (I love spotty bindings), one was a pale blue with white spots, the other a turquoise with yellow spots). When I sewed them together they went all around the quilt with about 8" to spare! Perfect. ............... Guess where the spare 8" is?

• The Perle Cotton was also from my stash, a bright turquoise variegated one.  Almost finished it on this quilt but a little left for a future small project.
• The batting was a leftover piece which, when I sorted out my stash cupboard earlier this year, I had measured and pinned on a label with the dimensions.  Very useful when I looked through my batting pieces and found this piece which was exactly the right size!
• Embroidery threads used for blanket stitching the Freckles were all from stash.

The only new fabric in this quilt is the blue background which I bought at the Festival of Quilts in August this year. About 6 GBP per metre.  Got a small bit left to use for framing Crumb blocks or using in a future Strip Quilt, perhaps.

So, a small baby quilt, it measures 30" square.  Ready for the next baby boy.  I know of three babies expected between December and mid April so perhaps this little Freckles quilt will find a home with one of them.

A Close up of some of the Freckles and stitching:

 

And, finally, the backing and hand quilting:

 

A few stats about my finished quilts so far this year:

• 14 finished quilts, 4 of them UFOs
• 8 of the 14 gifted so far: 4 are now in New Zealand, 1 in Germany and 3 here in the UK.

Isn't is lovely to have lots of scraps to use up, whether they are fabric, batting, embroidery threads, bindings or Perle Cotton!

Linking up with Clare's Maybush Studio Brit Linky Thursday blog.

 

 

Rainbow Strippy finished

I have finished my Rainbow Strippy Quilt this week and I love it.

It is based on the Beeline Quilt from Emily Cier's book Scrap Republic.
However, I have increased the size as the one in the book only finishes at 30" square.  That's a nice size for a playmat or pushchair/Moses basket quilt but this will be useful for a cot too.
I made the centre panel around 30" and the borders 5" or so and the bound quilt measures 38" wide by 42" long.

Every single part of this quilt was made from stash:  scrap strips (many of them given to me or ones I received in Swaps), the various colours of Perle Cottons, the batting, binding and also the quilt backing.  I bought this piece of fabric about three years ago and had never found it quite right for any quilt I was making.  Until this one and I decided it went really well. It was obviously meant for this quilt as the size was perfect!  I have just been left with the trimmings which have been added to my strips stash.  Nothing gets thrown away here!

It looks pretty and shows up the variously coloured rows of Perle quilting very nicely.

I added photos of the quilt yesterday onto my Flickr Photostream and added it to the Scrap Republic Group's photos.  As I have made several quilts from the book I now appear as No 1 on the list of most photos in this group.

During the week I have also made another little Preemie quilt top, similar to the one I showed in last week's blog post.  They are both sandwiched ready for quilting and I have started to hand quilt one of them.

I have also sandwiched the Freckles Quilt top I made a couple of months ago and this morning I started to hand quilt this one at my patchwork group. Again this is based on a Scrap Replublic pattern.

Hope you have all had a successful sewing week too.

Linking up with Maybush Studio's Thursday Brit Sewing Linky.

My Quilt books

I saw a photo on another blog a few days ago which showed some of the quilt books the blog-writer owned.
It set me thinking of my own collection of Quilt books.

Over the years I have amassed quite a collection, many bought myself and a lot gifted to me.
I have loved reading through them all, lots of them many times and I like to dip into them when I am looking for a particular idea or method of sewing or piecing.

This is the corner of my sewing room where I keep my books, ring binder files of Quilt ideas cut from magazines, my sweet jar of Perle cottons and plastic tubs of cut scrap squares and strips of various sizes.  As you can see, I use a bedroom for sewing so there is a wardrobe and bed in there too.

Close ups of the book shelves:

However I realised that actually there are 5 I use all the time. And here they are:

Sorry, for some reason the photograph as turned itself sideways en route from my Flickr Photostream to my blog!

Most of these books are never back on the bookshelf, they are on the bed with half-finished projects beside them.  In fact, I had to gather them up and return them to the shelves for these photos.

I love Gwen Marston and Freddie Moran books.  Their quirky style, wonky blocks and their liberated block ideas sit very happily with me.  Also, the use of so much colour excites me.  Freddie Moran's view that the more colours in a quilt the better and her wonderful notion that RED is a neutral colour are just great! When I first started quilting back in 1997 my use of colour was very restrained: three or four colours in a handful of different fabrics, in pale or quiet ( not as interesting as the recent craze for Low Volume!) colours were used in my first quilts.

Bit by bit I became more adventurous, colour crept up on me and then I saw some American Quilt Shows on TV in New Zealand.  There I met Freddie Moran, and that led to Gwen Marston.  I was blown away!  I even did a One Day Workshop with Gwen In New Zealand when she came to the Quilt Group I belong to out there.  I have never looked back!

I probably always liked the idea of Scrap quilts and using Freddie and Gwen's ideas I was able to make one Scrap quilt after another.

Then through blogs and Flickr I met Emily Cier's Scrap Republic book.  Her use of colour and scraps excited me too so that book is also in constant use.  I am currently working on two quilts based on projects in this book.

So, if I had to limit my collection of Quilt books to just a few those five would be an absolute must.

What are your favourite Quilt books and why?  I would love to know.

A bits and pieces sort of week

A busy week: lots of gardening, a couple of sessions with our little granddaughter, a great talk by the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce, a mind blowing concert in Coventry Cathedral by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, two Patchwork group meetings and a little sewing at home. 

Oh, and I have just returned home from a first read through of Mother Goose, the radio pantomime we are recording this year for Radio Warneford, hospital radio station for Warwick Hospital.  I have been a member for over 16 years and a Duty Producer for many of those years!  Now I'm also the Fairy Queen! Until Christmas, anyway.

Phew!  So, a few moments to catch up on what I have been sewing this week.

I have been continuing to hand blanket stitch the I Spy freckles on my latest version of Emily Ciers' Freckles Quilt.  There are 25 circles to stitch around and I am working on number 20.  I love blanket stitching, very restful and soothing and good to do whilst watching TV.  Tonight I shall be glued to the TV watching Strictly Come Dancing, quite a long programme so I should be able to complete a few more circles this evening.

This is how it looks at the moment:

 

I have also continued to work with the HSTs I made from the paired triangle scraps I was given.  All sewn together, mainly sewn as I used them as leaders/enders as I pieced my latest Beeline Quilt.  I am now slowly working my way through the pile, trimming them to 1.75".  Hope to finish this task this afternoon whilst I listen to some lovely Classical music on Classic FM.

 

Here's my cutting board, all ready and waiting!

 

And I managed to sandwich together my Rainbow Beeline Quilt at the Patchwork group I went to on Monday afternoon and started the hand quilting with Perle Cotton at the Patchwork group I attend every Thursday morning.  I have decided to match the Perle Cotton to the particular Rainbow band. On Thursday I managed to complete all the red section.  Using a larger stitch than I do with normal quilting thread so it sews up quite quickly.

During the past few weeks I have been trying to link up with Clare's blog Maybush Studio, but I am probably a bit too late this week.  Perhaps next week?

Off to have a quick sandwich before I tackle those HST blocks!

 

Oops, made a quilt top whilst I was tidying

Last Thursday when I linked up with Clare's Brit Sewing Thursday Linky I expressed the idea that I would tidy my sewing room and perhaps continue the Mr Scarecrow quilt.

Did it happen?  Well, yes ....... and no......................!


I started to tidy my sewing room and came across a pile of fabrics I had been adding to in readiness for a Scrap Republic Beeline Quilt.  It seemed silly to put that carefully sorted pile away into a plastic bag in a drawer.  Didn't it???????????

So, over the next two days I sewed the (carefully chosen) scraps into this lovely Quilt Top:

 

I love Emily Cier's book Scrap Republic.  Probably because I enjoy making quilts from scraps, something out of nothing sort of idea, and I LOVE colour and rainbows.

 

So, this quilt top is literally scraps, many that I have received in Scrap Swaps and others the remains of quilts made years ago but the left overs safely stashed away. I have increased the size of the quilt, more details when it is finished.

 

Thursday is also my Patchwork Group day and last week I was given a plastic bag of paired triangles(light and dark) which were off cuts from trimming blocks.  For my sins I have got the reputation (with good reason!) of being the person who loves to make Crumb blocks. However, as I made the Beeline Quilt top I used the paired triangles as leaders/enders and made Half Square triangles as I went along.  Didn't quite finish the pile so yesterday I finished sewing the triangle pairs and started to trim the squares to 1.75". Still not quite finished, but up to 100 already!  My intention is to make Pinwheel blocks and either make up a Quilt top myself or to hand them back to Wendy, the lady who donated them originally.  She is an absolute star, having made, or been the inspiration of making, literally hundreds of Linus Quilts. 

So, watch this space.

 

This has been another very happy and satisfying week on the Quilt Front.

 

Two baby quilts mailed last week and two baby quilts arrived safely and were loved this week!

Went to my Patchwork Group this morning - a lovely time as always! - and came home to a beautiful email from Germany, thanking me for the Cornerstones Quilt and attached was a delightful photo of baby Jasmine wrapped in a fluffy pink blanket, fast asleep in her cot. Underneath was my quilt, which fitted the cot perfectly! Wonderful!

 

Friendly frogs was equally well received.  Mum and Dad overwhelmed as they didn't expect a quilt and baby George's Granny was in  tears! This is why I make quilts.  I get so much pleasure making them and then that is trebled when I know people love them too.

 

As for Mr Scarecrow, nothing added to him, although I have carefully packed finished parts of borders into a plastic bag and neatly put them with the top as it stands to date.  Watch this space!

 

 

Another WIP finished

I finished another WIP today, my Rainbow Bands cot quilt, made using the Plumb Quilt design in Emily Cier's book entitled Scrap Republic.

I loved putting this WIP together and cannot understand how it was ever put aside and left in my sewing cupboard for over a year.  The Rainbow bands are made from scraps, arranged from left to right from paler to darker shades of each colour.

I love the scrappy borders using scrap strips of neutral toned fabrics.

The backing is a fabric called Oberon by Westmister Fibres, bought a few months ago when it was on sale at half price.  Hand quilted using a pale cream quilting thread.

The finished cot quilt measures 32" x 40" and is now being put back into my sewing cupboard but this time in the Finished Quilts Box!  Several babies due in the next few months so this is ready for a girl.

 

 

 

 

I just love these scrappy strippy borders as I think they make a lovely frame for the bright middle of the quilt.

 

So, another WIP finished and more scraps used up.  Fabulous!

 

And tomorrow I'm off to the Malvern Quilt Show.

 

WIp turned into a finished Quilt top

Continuing with my New Year's Resolution to use up fabric in my stash and complete WIPs that were languishing in my sewing cupboard, I had a very profitable afternoon yesterday.

About a year ago I started to make a Plumb Quilt from Emily Cier's book Scrap Republic.
I made four of the six rainbow bands, sorted out the fabric for the other two bands and also some neutral fabrics that I thought would be suitable for the scrappy borders.  And then, for a reason I can no longer remember, it was put into a plastic bag and popped into my sewing cupboard.

And there it stayed until yesterday.  It only took me 3 hours to turn my WIP into a lovely little quilt.  I increased the width of the borders and the completed top measures 41" x 33", so a nice Baby Quilt size.

Here are some photos:

And two close ups of part of the rainbow bands and scrappy borders.

 

 

Many of the rainbow strips are fabrics I have received in recent Swapbot Swaps, the rest oddments from my scrap bags.

So I can honestly say that this quilt top has cost nothing to make ( apart from the cost of thread).

I was extremely pleased with the top; the neutral scrappy borders really show the rainbow bands off well.  My husband made my day when he told me he thought it was the best quilt top I had ever made.  He said it reminded him of an abstract work of art!  I love it even more knowing that!

Tomorrow I am going to a new Patchwork Group where there are tables to use for sandwiching your quilts. So I am taking my Rainbow Bands top with me so I can get it ready for quilting.  It will be lovely not to have to crawl around on my sewing room floor to do this job!

In a moment I am going to cut the binding for my current quilt, the Crumb quilt Cornerstones one.

I hope to machine the binding on so that I can take that with me as well tomorrow.  Who knows, I might even have time to start to hand sew the binding on the back of the quilt as the group meets for about 3 hours.

A productive weekend.  I hope you have been equally happy with your sewing output this weekend.

 

Another finish for 2013

I've had a busy week, finishing one quilt, sandwiching a WIP quilt top and two little premature baby quilts ready for hand quilting and labelling a little quilt I made exactly one year ago.

Firstly, my finished Zigzag Quilt:

 

I am so pleased with this quilt, all made from stash, nothing new bought at all. 

A few statistics:

Quilt measures 40", which I think is a nice size for a cot quilt/playmat.

I used 72 of my completed 4" Crumb blocks and paired those with 4" squares of yellow, orange and ash Kona Cottons to make the 144 HST units. 

Borders cut at 2.5" from a bright orange polka dot fabric I also had in my stash ( just a small piece of that left now)

Bound in a marbled effect bright green fabric which was sent to me recently in one of the Swap bots I joined.  I had a fabulous parcel of scraps from Shevvy, several of which were very generous sized pieces, including this green one.  Again, I have a little left over.

Hand quilted with a variegated yellow and orange Perle cotton.  I just outlined the zigzags and quilted 1/4" inside the borders.

 

Exactly a year ago I made my first Freckles Quilt fron Emily Cier's Book Scrap Republic. I didn't have anyone in mind for the quilt and put it away with my pile of finished quilts. However, a good friend has recently become a grandmother again so I decided this pretty quilt would be an ideal gift for little Nisha. 
I have embroidered a label ( I have called the quilt Rainbow Bubbles) and sewn it onto the quilt and it is now ready to be mailed.

Here's a reminder of the quilt:

This Close up shows how the circles are constructed from strips of scraps joined together.  It's so effective, especially as the concentric lines of hand quilting make the circles pop out of the background fabric.  I shall have to make another of these quilts!  Again, the quilt was all made from scraps I had in my stash as I even pieced the background of this quilt.

There are three babies due in April and May, all grandchildren of New Zealand friends so I am making a few cot quilts to add to my little stash of finished cot quilts. My Zigzag Quilt was added this week and I also decided to turn a quilt top I made some months ago into a baby quilt.  It's orange, blue and lime green, featuring a lovely Owl fabric.  Simple squares and rectangles.  I managed to find enough pieces of fabric in my stash to stitch together for the backing and sandwiched the quilt a couple of days ago.  The batting is a pale green one made from recycled plastic bottles, a Cot sized piece I won in a Giveaway ages ago.
I even had enough of the batting left over to use for two Premature baby quilt tops that were also sitting in my WIP box. Last night I sandwiched those together, backing them with more of the vintage sheet I used as backing for my Siblings Together quilt.

So, all in keeping with my New Year Resolutions to finish WIPs and to use up my stash!

So, a productive week!  I can now enjoy looking after our little 3 year old granddaughter this weekend, all sewing put safely away, out of reach of little hands!

Have a great weekend and do comment on this post if something has caught your eye.

 

 

 

YEH! WIP finished

I am so pleased to announce my First WIP finish for 2013!  My Siblings Together Charity Quilt using fat quarters won in a Giveaway that Katy of Imagingermonkey fame hosted last year.

The winner had to make a quilt at least 50" square for the Siblings Together Charity to give to children who had been separated from their siblings and were meeting up at a summer camp.

The fat quarters were called Savannah Bop, a children's novelty-style design.  I found them pretty but not enough contrast in colours for me and a couple of the designs did not lend themselves to being cut up into patchwork pieces. So, I really had to think how to use them.  I love Gwen Marston quilts and her liberated style so I decided to make a Medallion Quilt in her style, using the giraffe print for the centre square.  Then I used some strong coloured fabric from my stash to add ZING!  An orange with white polka dot, a bright egg-yolk yellow stripe and a bright lime green Kona cotton.

I used the idea from Emily Cier's book of circles to showcase the fat quarter designs appliqued onto the lime green Kona cotton background as another border.

The final border was made from squares of the fat quarters interspersed with piano keys of the scraps.

The Giveaway asked for a quilt measuring a minimum of 50" square.  My quilt finished at 56" square.  Result!

Now for the backing.  Because of the size I was into piecing the backing and really didn't have anything suitable but I did have a vintage sheet used originally on my son's bed in the 1980s.  Just the colours and surprisingly, a patchwork design of hexagons.  To add more interest I added appliqued circles of the fabrics used in the quilt:

I did a combination of hand quilting:  Perle cotton to outline stars, giraffes etc and to outline the piano keys. I used ordinary quilting cotton to quilt in the ditch between the borders.

Then the binding was made from three different yellow fabrics I had, including one I had used in the Wonky Stars borders of the quilt.

So, here at last is the finished quilt:

I am really pleased with it.  It is bright, cheerful and has lots of things for a child to look at and discuss.  I used a good quality batting and, along with the soft sheet backing it gives a lovely feel to the quilt.

I am sorry it took so long to make but I hope it will make one child feel loved and wanted.  I will be posting it next week to Delma Hughes, the Siblings Together Group's organiser.